SSR: The story of an apple

Apple is one of the industry brands, which like Microsoft at the time, currently dominates the market and dictates trends in some way. It is both hated and revered and the latter provide such a cult that as the Taliban they defend tooth and nail. But it would be necessary to ask, is it really true that the best known (Jobs) of the founders of Apple is the genius that is proclaimed everywhere? Let's go by parts then and see a review of these people.

steve paul jobs: Natural son of university students who give him up for adoption to the family formed by Paul and Clara Jobs (of Armenian origin). Paul Jobs was a train driver for the railway company and his mother was a housewife. In 1961 the family moved to Mountain View south of Palo Alto, which would become one of the most important centers of the electronics industry. He attended Middle School Elementary School and Homestead HS High School in Cupertino. He joined the Hewlett-Packard Explorer club, where HP engineers showed young people their new products, where Steve saw his first computer at the age of 12.

On one occasion, Jobs asked the then president of the company, William Hewlett, about some parts he needed to complete a class project. This earned him the support of W. Hewlett who provided him and offered him to do a summer internship at his company. Jobs would later be hired as a summer clerk.

Stephen Wozniack: Born into a family of immigrants from Bucovina, his father of Ukrainian origin and his mother of German origin. Stephen's parents moved to the US after the war. Woz's values ​​were shaped and strengthened over years by his family, individual thought, moral philosophy, the ethics of amateur radio (helping people in emergencies) and books (Swift's humanitarian and utilitarian attitude) among others. stuff.

Wozniak has always loved anything that requires a lot of thought, even if it is devoid of any practicality or marketability. He learned the basics of mathematics and electronics from his father. When Woz was eleven years old, he built his own amateur radio station, and obtained a broadcast license. At age thirteen, he was elected president of his institute's electronics club, winning first prize at a science fair for a transistor-based calculator. Also at thirteen, Woz began designing his first computers (including one that could play tic-tac-toe), which laid the groundwork for his subsequent successes.

After leaving the University of Colorado, Woz and his neighbor, Bill Fernández, built a computer together in Fernández's parents' garage. Around this time, Fernandez introduced Woz to his best friend and classmate, Steve Jobs, an ambitious loner who quickly became friends with Woz, and they began to work together.

Ronald Wayne: Searching the net there is practically not much about his biography, so we will assume that he is the typical American boy created and educated in the postwar period. It can be said that he is the third and little known founder of the computer company Apple Computer. It was he who illustrated the first Apple logo (a drawing of Isaac Newton under an apple tree). He also wrote the Apple I instruction manuals and the collaboration agreement.

Like Jobs and indirectly Woz, Wayne worked at Atari, before the trio founded the Apple company in 1976. Jobs brought him into the Apple project to avoid any obstacle in voting on the Steve's decisions, receiving a 10% stake when the company was founded.

Wayne continued to work at Atari, because he did not trust the new company very much, which he resigned eleven days after its founding, selling his shares for $ 800. In 1977 they gave him a goodbye bonus of $ 1,700.

Background

Wozniak learned about Bluebox through an article in Esquire in October 1971 written by Ron Rosenbaum. Bluebox is a device with which one can use the telephone system emulating the ringtones used by the analog telephone switches of the time, Wozniak built and Jobs sold Bluebox for fifty dollars a unit, dividing the profits.

In 1971 Wozniack told Jobs about his intention to make a computer for personal use and in 1976 he brought it to life. At that time, Woz was an employee of Hewlett Packard and had a contractual obligation to present his ideas to the company. Finally HP rejects it and it would be a short time for Jobs to present the team to the University of Berkeley, where it would be a spectacular success.

Before long, they began to receive small orders for computers that they built themselves with handmade machines, eventually selling about 200 copies of their machine. Apple I. More friends joined them, but the Apple I's features were limited, so they started looking for financing. Finally, Jobs met Mike Markkula, who agreed to invest $ 250.000 USD, thus creating on April 1, 1976, Apple Computer.

Apple II and success

For Wozniak, the Apple II was simply going to be the computer he would have wanted to build if he had not had the financial constraints that he had with the Apple I. He had the idea of ​​including video memory in the computer to manage the color display, of the same This mode included numerous expansion cards so that users could expand the capabilities of the computer according to their own needs.

This team was the one that gave the company the financial strength that would allow it to become one of the favorites and be ahead of the rest.

Later they launched the Apple III and III + which were together with Lisa (a PC that would be the middle ground between the Apple and the Mac) a resounding failure both technical and financial.

One of the few benefits that Lisa's failure brought was that following the recommendation of people like Jef Raskin and Bill Atkinson, Jobs decided to negotiate a deal with Xerox PARC consisting of a visit to Xerox laboratories in exchange for a million dollars. share of Apple when it was listed on the stock exchange. After this visit in December 1979, Jobs understood that the future would be in machines with graphical user interface (GUI) and the pointer (mouse or mouse), developed by Xerox. From here a rivalry was born that would last for a few years: The compatible IBM PC (hence we speak of Microsoft) and Apple Computers.

Myths and Facts: The Origin of the Apple Name and Logo

Many attribute the name of the company to Jobs since this was, according to popular folklore that this fruit was his favorite. The Apple reality if it is an occurrence of Jobs, no matter how far-fetched or well-off the story is, but the logo is another story. This was the work of Rob Janoff who presented several versions of the logo with a very good synthesis of the apple (including the bite). One of the most widespread ideas is that the bitten apple was made in honor of Alan Turing, one of the fathers of computing, who committed suicide by eating an apple poisoned with cyanide. In fact, some urban legends maintain that the colors of the rainbow are a tribute to Turing's homosexuality. However these rumors have not been confirmed. What's more, the rainbow flag of homosexuality was designed two years after the introduction of the first Apple apple logo and displays the colors in a different order so this last assumption seems highly unlikely.

The number 0 of the company.

One of the most talked about stories when it comes to talking about Jobs' desire for leadership and prominence is that, once Apple began to grow, the company's board of directors decided to assign numbers to employees. Wozniak received the number 1 and Jobs was left with the number 2. His annoyance was such that, by complaining, he managed to be awarded the number 0. This denotes the personality and points of view of Jobs, summing up in despotism, selfishness and iron control grating on the dictatorial unmatched in the industry. The latter in reference to the fact that in the beginning Jobs having an order from Atari played a little "dirty" to Woz, who would later find out.

Free parking

Jobs's bad habit of parking where he wants to, without respecting rules or signs, is well known. They are not just rumors, there are numerous photographs that show Jobs's car occupying the space reserved for the disabled or even two parking spaces. It is also said (and this is a rumor) that someone came to draw the Mercedes logo in the handicapped square, alluding to the vehicle of the late Apple executive, a Mercedes SL55 AMG.

It revolutionized the world of personal computing.

Although Steve Jobs the most he did physically in the Apple I was solder some chips, the idea that a normal person can and want to use a computer was his. Steve Jobs I couldn't have made it come true without WozniakAs if it weren't for Wozniak, Jobs wouldn't have had a product to make that vision a reality.

He revolutionized the world of computing with the invention / introduction of the graphical interface and the mouse.

In reality, both the graphical interface and the mouse were technologies adapted from work being carried out in Palo Alto by XEROX, in its XEROX PARC laboratory.

On the recommendation of Jef Raskin and Bill Atkinson, Jobs decided to negotiate an agreement with Xerox PARC consisting of a visit to Xerox laboratories in exchange for one million dollars of Apple shares when it was listed on the stock exchange. After this visit in December 1979, Jobs understood that the future would be in machines with a graphical user interface (GUI) and the pointer (mouse or mouse).

machintosh

Actually, Jobs didn't even suggest the name "Macintosh." The name was suggested by one of the people who created its graphical interface: Jef Raskin.

The departure of the Steves and the Bump that allowed Microsoft and IBM (and compatible) to dominate the market.

In the mid-80s he was fired by the CEO he hired, Mike Scully, since Jobs could not be without total control of the company. After this Jobs acquired The Graphics Group (now known as PIXAR) which was a subsidiary of Lucas Films. On January 24, 2006, after several disagreements, Walt Disney announced the purchase of all Pixar shares for $ 7.400 billion, making Jobs the largest individual shareholder in Disney, with a 7% stake.

Around the same time, Jobs decided to create the Next Computers company but focused his company's strategy on the production of software, changing the name of the company to Next Software Inc. One of the most striking decisions was the sale of NeXT equipment built around the Intel 486 and SPARC microprocessors. Curiously, Apple Computer announced on December 20, 1996 the acquisition of NeXT Software for 400 million dollars in order to update the operating system of Macintosh computersAfter the company's failure with Copland, a project that was never completed. Thus, Jobs returned to be part of the Apple company. In the late 90s, Apple was nearly dead and Microsoft's dominance was overwhelming. There were other alternatives such as Unix and derivatives, but it would take a couple of years of work for the GUI's in these environments to be more usable.

As for Woz, in 1982 and 1983 he sponsored two editions of the US Festival, a party celebrating the evolution of technology and the fusion of music, computers and television. Woz left Apple for good on February 6, 1985, nine years after creating the company. Wozniak then founded a new company called Cloud 9 that developed remote controls, making the first universal remote control on the market in 1987.

Steve Jobs is an iGenio and saves Apple "thinking differently"

One thing Jobs should be credited with is hiring the right people for the job.

To the surprise of many, the idea of ​​naming the iMac that way, and the slogan "Think Different," was not Jobs' idea. Instead, it was the brainchild of Ken Segall, a publicist. So the next time you say "I hope Steve is in the iCielo", remember to pay respects to the one who really created it.

So too, the revolutionary design of the iMac is the responsibility, not of Jobs, but Jonathan Ive, a now renowned designer, who is also responsible for designing basically all Apple products from the iMac to the iPod, to the iPhone and the iPod. iPad.

"Post-PC" / iTunes devices.

Woz in the early 80s sponsored two editions of the US Festival, a party celebrating the evolution of technology and the fusion of music, computers, and television. Something that many assume that Jobs conceived but was actually Woz's work, something that was ahead of time when he proposed it.

What must be recognized is that Jobs saw that although the iMac was a total success, there were aspects of the ecosystem that were evolving (such as the possibility of downloading a song from the Internet), he decided that it was time to develop devices that also enter those markets, and integrate existing technology (such as the iMac), with new technology (such as the Internet, mp3, etc).

So the concept of iTunes and the iPod was born. Offering a legal (financially accessible and also a questionable topic) alternative to "music piracy", while at the same time establishing a link between the personal computer and digital music, Jobs and Apple would once again revolutionize the way we view things. . Also here Jobs bases his idea on something that already existed in the market and legally: "Real Networks" where one could have his personal disco at a cost per song or album directly on the PC.

The PC would become the "command center" where a person would be able to edit, enjoy and manipulate their photos, videos and songs, as well as manage the devices related to these, such as the iPod (which runs mp3s), digital cameras and camcorders.

Conclusions

As you will notice, in this little personal analysis and based on several accepted sources and not by the protagonists, something in particular can be noted:

Jobs, although at the beginning he was a neophyte and moron in marketing, over time he refined them and became a true salesperson who, unlike Microsoft, promoted something that he already had ready, that worked and of very good quality.

Regarding technology, Jobs took advantage of the talent of his fellow Apple founders, especially Woz, since without this engineer Apple would never have been what it is. Also many of the stereotypes, logos, graphic design, among others, is the work of other people who, although they received their pay, were not given the due credit.

Like Bill Gates, Jobs was a businessman who fought tooth and nail to stay and be a protagonist, his policies and ways of working are very questionable and apparently Apple's dominance will be for a good period of time and Microsoft will settle for be the second or perhaps, Apple ends up absorbing it since according to the trend and specialists, the future is in the mobility of devices and in this Microsoft is not a competition for Apple.

And what about Linux, fortunately (for many and not for others) Cannonical has decided to work hand in hand with another major in the Google industry (which we will talk about in another post) to face the Apple - Microsoft duo and have an open alternative to act as a counterweight.